MUSKEGON -- For the past three years, Connie Navarro has collected the stories of Mexican-Americans who call Muskegon home -- and saved them for posterity.

She started with a special place in local history.

She called together former residents of Ryerson Heights, the federal housing project situated along Ryerson Creek on Getty Street, where she grew up and scores of other Mexican-American families lived during World War II and the years immediately after.

"This is our life. It is our history," said Navarro, 70, of Muskegon. "We need to remember it for our grandkids and our great-grandkids, too. They need to know where we grew up ... where we came from."

Navarro's hope was to create an ongoing oral history project that documented the memories of the Mexican-American families who lived in Ryerson Heights Housing Project from 1943 to 1954. She called it "La Colonia: Ryerson Heights in Stories and Pictures."

Translated, La Colonia means "neighborhood."

"That's right," Navarro said. "It's where it all started for us."

But as she continued to interview people, and as the memories were gathered, the project grew. Eventually Navarro, who is part of the Latinos Working for the Future organization, turned her research over to Dan Yakes, a retired Muskegon Community College history professor.

Yakes, who did more than a year's worth of research on his own, looked beyond the families who lived in Ryerson Heights and included the history of Mexican-Americans throughout the Muskegon community.

Connect

What: "A New Home in Michigan: the Mexican-American Experience in Muskegon."

Of note: Participants will raise the Mexican flag at Muskegon City Hall, 933 Terrace, at noon Saturday before the event.

Order now: The 216-page book, "A New Home in Michigan: The Mexican-American Experience in Muskegon," by Dan Yakes and Connie Navarro can be ordered Saturday. It will be delivered in December.

"I thought the (original) focus was too narrow," Yakes said. "It was a great framework ... a good beginning. This community has a very rich history in Muskegon."

He discovered that as early as the 1900 census, people with Mexican surnames were listed as Muskegon residents.

On Saturday, Navarro and Yates will release information about the project started in 2007 at an event featuring guest speaker Alfredo Benavides, a professor of bilingual education and diversity studies at Texas Tech University. Benavides conducted community research at the former agency, El Centro Latino, in Muskegon while he earned his doctoral degree at Michigan State University in the 1970s. His research was used to guarantee bilingual education in Muskegon-area schools with Title VII funds.

"I felt I left something for the community with that," Benavides said.

In his speech, Benavides said he will "share my memories of Muskegon" and talk about the importance of saving the history of the Mexican-American families who lived in Ryerson Heights and other parts of the community.

"Sometimes there's a clear road map of where we should be going by looking at what we've done ... and where we've been," Benavides said.

The final version of the book -- which includes interviews with 38 families -- will be distributed Dec. 12 during the annual Our Lady of Guadalupe service at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, 495 S. Getty.

"You have a very vibrant Hispanic community in Muskegon," Benavides said. "It was an honor to work there."